Linspire under new management

Robertson has handed over the reins of Linspire to the company's president and former COO Kevin Carmony who was also with Robertson at his previous venture, MP3.com, and has been at Linspire since its inception.

There has been no official announcement of the executive change, which came to light as San Diego, California-based Linspire announced a new distribution deal with Micro Electronics' Micro Center retail chain.

A spokesperson for Linspire said the change in management occurred in the last few weeks and was reflective of Carmony's expanded strategic role, but does not mean Robertson will be taking a back seat at the company.

The new distribution deal with Micro Focus follows a plea from Robertson last month for Linux distributors to concentrate on distribution channels and partnerships to help Linux become a credible desktop alternative to Microsoft's Windows.

"It's critical that when you walk into computer stores you see Linux on desktops and laptops," he said. The deal sees Micro Center offering Linspire 5 across its 20 US stores both in a boxed version and also installed on laptops and PCs.

The Linux desktop operating system will be pre-installed on PCs from PowerSpec and laptops from WinBook, two other subsidiaries of Micro Electronics. Micro Center is expecting strong demand for the products based on an internal company survey which showed that over 75% of its customers were interested in running a Linux operating system.